


Leading by Example

by thismighthurt



Category: VERIVERY (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Office, Confessions, Drinking, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, acting on needing dongheon in a suit + glasses, i ship minchan with happiness guys i swear, let kangmin say the s word 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23840491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thismighthurt/pseuds/thismighthurt
Summary: Dongheon’s three big problems were, in no particular order: (1) Kangmin was lovesick, (2)  he wasn’t having any advice that Dongheon himself wouldn’t follow, and (3) this meant the only way to sort the kid out was for Dongheon to set a good standard and finally tell Hoyoung he loved him.
Relationships: Bae Hoyoung/Lee Dongheon, Jo Gyehyeon/Yoo Kangmin
Comments: 41
Kudos: 171





	Leading by Example

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Leading by Example](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25429888) by [heonihoneybaby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heonihoneybaby/pseuds/heonihoneybaby)



> this isn't my first rodeo... but it's the first one i've taken minchan to lksjdfls  
> bls enjoy

If Dongheon had to point out where it all started, he’d say it was that goddammned text Gyehyeon decided to send out at 6 pm on a Tuesday: _Kangmin’s lying on the floor with his eyes rolled back in his head and he won’t tell me why._

Dongheon almost hit a keysmash into the report he was writing. He glanced from his phone, to his report, to the time, and back again, before tearing his hands away from his keyboard.

 _What does Hoyoung say?_ he texted back.

That wasn’t a cop out for Dongheon, not strictly, though sometimes it still struck him as wild that it had been a whole year since Hoyoung would’ve drop kicked his ass for not handling it himself. Now Dongheon could only scan his new office and imagine Hoyoung was in a different kind of hell, trying to stay awake for a lecturer who gave themselves way too much importance, only to use his vacant periods to headlock some sense into the kids.

Gyehyeon was typing. Dongheon took a second to see if he could still salvage his momentum on the report, but really, he’d probably sooner just die.

_Nothing. He’s not replying_

Now Dongheon could only drum his fingers on the keyboard. _Hoyoung’s not replying._ Not that Hoyoung was obligated to reply, by any stretch, and definitely not to a text like _that_ but…

It was always one thing to leave Dongheon on read, and another the kids. Dongheon let his heart squeeze out a little, _Bae Hoyoung, where are you_? and sent the next text out to Kangmin instead: _Is it an emergency?_

 _No_ ☹, Kangmin replied.

So Dongheon stood and peered over his section’s half wall and into his coworker’s space. “Hey, I’m going to need to take off early today.”

It had been two years since he’d met Hoyoung. Two years since Dongheon had read a court proceedings document that pissed him off so badly that he’d stress-sauntered into the nearest dance studio on a Thursday night.

He remembered well enough the first easy smile and that first flash of dimple, but wasn’t sure exactly when _yeah, Hoyoung’s cool_ turned into _damn, Hoyoung’s cute_ and eventually spiraled into the compulsive need to make Hoyoung laugh and look at him when he’s not looking.

Dongheon remembered when he’d realized that it really be like that, though:

“That was the three of us,” Yongseung had said. “We all met each other at the same time, hyung; you, me and Hoyoung-hyung.”

And even as Dongheon had laughed and hugged Yongseung an apology, he could feel the panic start to spike in his chest because he was pretty sure memories weren’t supposed to crystallize and revolve around one person like that.

And while it was easy enough to realize that maybe he had a crush on Hoyoung, accepting it was another matter altogether. It would take a college graduation, another few months of late nights, countless hours of the peculiar lilt in Hoyoung’s voice and the snarky side-eye that he’d think Dongheon missed, and of course—

“Hello. Who is this?”

“I’m really sorry!” Kangmin bowed at ninety degrees, and Dongheon had to resist the urge to pick him back up by his collar. “I got the dance class schedule wrong!”

“This is Kangmin,” Dongheon explained. “He’s starting high school next month.”

Kangmin was pale, so, so pale, like if any more of the blood drained out of him, he’d just keel over. Hoyoung, on the other hand, hid a smile behind his hand but couldn’t stop it from reaching his eyes.

“I don’t see why he can’t stay, though,” said Dongheon, who also couldn’t help how the sentence tilted upward into a question. Did Hoyoung like kids? Kangmin was hardly an _infant_ kind of baby but he was still a small, confused boy. Would Hoyoung think he was rude if he threw Kangmin out?

“I mean,” said Dongheon, trying to stem some of the fluster coming through, “He was doing just fine until he started to wonder why everyone looked so old.”

That did it for Kangmin. He groaned and buried his head in his hands, trying to sink even farther into his t-shirt like a turtle.

Here, Hoyoung did pick him back up the collar. “Well, I don’t see why not, either. You were really keeping up with hyung?”

Dongheon felt his insides swirl. As he watched Hoyoung gently interrogate Kangmin, Dongheon felt, for the first time, that maybe he wasn’t in such a bad place.

When the class began in earnest and a few wary souls tried to suss out Kangmin, Dongheon had glibly declared, “He’s a freshman, no major yet, let’s not scare him,” and amid the minor dissent, he flicked his eyes over to Hoyoung for approval.

His heart did a soft tumble in his chest. Hoyoung had traded the look in for something more mischievous so quickly, but Dongheon couldn’t mistake the softness he’d seen in his eyes.

That was the first time, too, that Dongheon had gotten an inkling that maybe Hoyoung wasn’t in such a bad place about it either.

“So let me get this straight—”

“Try again.”

“Then let me _clarify_ this, baby gay,” said Dongheon kindly, using Hoyoung’s nickname for him. In response, Kangmin rolled over so a soft cheek was squished against the floor. Dongheon resisted the urge to poke it with a toe. “Gyehyeon didn’t understand that you were asking him out, which is why you’re now malfunctioning.”

“Why is it so hard,” Kangmin deadpanned, his eyes suddenly coming very close to how rolled back Gyehyeon had described them before he’d left.

Dongheon coughed, trying to cover up his noise of alarm. If Kangmin noticed, he didn’t show it.

“Why is it so hard,” Kangmin repeated. “I just want to hold his hand and get ice cream together.”

“You do that already.”

“But like officially. Together. With him knowing I like him.”

“Okay—”

“Hyung,” Kangmin moaned, “What if he doesn’t like me back?”

Dongheon had to physically bite down on his own tongue. _Yoo Kangmin, you are just now considering this_? This angle, the maybe he actually hates me and thinks I’m parasitic trash angle, the angle that’s kept Dongheon up at night for years now?

Dongheon shook away the thought. Of course Kangmin was just now considering this. He was the cutest person on the planet against Dongheon’s stock of ego and abs, maybe; being unloved by the people who’d raised him was a foreign concept.

“Kangiminnie, he holds your hand and takes you to ice cream. He also holds your hand at the movies. He holds your hand at the goddamn park. One time he held Yeonho’s hand and asked him why his hand wasn’t your hand.”

“And why wasn’t it?”

“I dunno, I guess he—I mean, well _fuck_ if I know. The point is there is no way in hell Gyehyeon doesn’t want to date you, okay?” Dongheon leaned back against the counter and let his gaze drift up to ceiling. “Maybe you just need to be clearer when you ask him next time.”

“Next time?” Kangmin scoffed. Dongheon had to look back at him; it was the first emotion other than acute sadness he’d shown since Dongheon had dragged himself back to the apartment. “I’m not asking him again, hyung. This is too hard. Too painful.”

It took all of Dongheon’s strength to physically restrain himself from jumping Kangmin then. “He hasn’t even _rejected_ you.”

“I knoooooooooooooooww,” Kangmin wailed, rolling one, twice, thrice, and how many more times until he’d traversed the small living room and ended up flat against their big glass window. Dongheon couldn’t help following now, at least to pick off the bigger chunks of dust that stuck to Kangmin’s cardigan. “But hyung, just the… like, the thought that he might not…”

Dongheon sighed as he settled next to him. He picked a candy wrapper out of Kangmin’s knit; he must have had a few before his meltdown. “I know it sucks, kiddo. But to live like this, with all of _that_ inside of you? You’re going to get real old, real wrinkly, real fast.”

Kangmin’s eyes snapped open. Dongheon could almost feel the panic exploding out of him.

To Dongheon’s surprise, though, Kangmin slipped back into lethargy without another moment’s thought. “ _You’re_ still alive, though.”

 _What?_ “What?”

Kangmin seemed oblivious to the spike in Dongheon’s blood pressure; that’s how out of it he was. Instead he gazed up at Dongheon and said, with melancholy eyes, “Hoyoung-hyung.”

No. Dongheon’s heart squeezed in his chest. No, no, no, _no_ —Kangmin can’t be doing this to him, _not Kangmin_ —

“You’re doing okay, right, hyung?” said Kangmin. “I mean, you’re alive. You’re working through it.”

_I’m not getting schooled by a seventeen-year-old. I’m not getting schooled by a seventeen-year-old._

“I’ll just… put the feelings away,” said Kangmin, finally breaking his gaze away from Dongheon. “I’ll get over it someday, maybe.”

 _Someday, maybe_. At this point, Dongheon felt like he was about to have a stroke, because if there was one thing worse than getting schooled by a seventeen-year-old, it was having that seventeen-year-old share his fate. “No, Kangmin—”

“It has been decided,” Kangmin intoned, making to turn away and maybe let the heat of the window comfort him instead.

“Yoo Kangmin!”

Kangmin froze. Dongheon, too. He swallowed, trying to get the hysteria rising in his throat to go back down. “Sorry. Hey. Just because I haven’t done it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, either.”

It looked like Kangmin was letting the thought settle with him for about a fat minute. Dongheon only picked at his cardigan; his brain felt like white noise.

“But if you haven’t, then there’s also no reason I should,” said Kangmin, and Dongheon simultaneously decided that he _wasn’t_ cute and also that he didn’t even make sense.

He was almost too busy trying to gently end Kangmin to hear the door burst frantically open.

“Kangmin?” Hoyoung called. “Kangmin, please, yell if you’re still alive!”

Kangmin couldn’t yell. That’s how Hoyoung found them: With Dongheon’s weight almost entirely squishing the boy out of existence.

To Dongheon, the next few minutes were a blur of Hoyoung’s tired eyes and his not-too-gentle hands peeling him off Kangmin. The sensations melded into careless fingers in Dongheon’s hair, the familiar way his clothes got straightened again, and the telltale thump-thump-thump he was sure Hoyoung could hear.

As soon as Hoyoung had checked on him and whacked him lightly on the head with a textbook, Kangmin feigned fainting and fell dramatically back to the floor.

“Hit the hay,” Dongheon offered. The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. “I’ve got this.”

Hoyoung seemed to think twice, but instead toed Kangmin in the side, making him do a satisfying wiggle. “Have cereal with me tomorrow morning.”

“If I wake up.”

“We’re going to bed soon,” Dongheon declared.

“It’s only eight o’—”

“Goodnight, you two,” said Hoyoung, smiling, and it was only then that Dongheon caught a glimpse of a sheaf of paper shoved in between the pages of the textbook, something that looked chillingly like an undergraduate thesis.

Hoyoung let his fingers run ever so slightly over Dongheon’s shoulder in goodbye. Then they heard the lock to his door click, and that was that: He’d be pulling the nth all-nighter since his final term at the university started.

“’ _Hit the hay_ ,’” said Kangmin, in a bad imitation of Dongheon’s voice.

Dongheon sighed hard and leaned back against the side of their small sofa. In the year since he’d started working, he felt that the poor sofa was being severely underused, while their small floorspace saw almost a comical amount of Dongheons and Kangmins worming around on multiple occasions.

“I’ll kill you tomorrow,” said Dongheon. He was much too tired now.

Kangmin blew a lock of hair out of his eyes. “I miss him too, you know.”

“We’re allowed to miss him,” Dongheon conceded.

“Will it always feel like this?” said Kangmin, turning a lovelorn gaze out the window.

Dongheon heaved another big sigh. In spite of the way Kangmin just sucked his strength out like a vampire, Dongheon was still careful, still bullheadedly determined to make sure only one of this household’s residents had to pine for the rest of eternity.

“You’re going to ask him again, Kangmin. I know you.”

“I’m not.”

“Kangmin, just confess—”

Kangmin tipped his head back suddenly so he was looking at Dongheon kind of upside down. Dongheon’s blood froze in veins. Maybe it was the cold look in Kangmin’s eyes, or a rare moment of precognition, but whatever it was sent chills up and down Dongheon’s spine like he’d never had them before.

“You first, hyung,” said Kangmin.

Dongheon was a Paralegal. Capital. Fucking. P. In a few months he’d be absolutely sick of all the crazy money he was earning and get his fine ass back into law school, but not before taking that small break to get absolutely wasted with no immediate consequences at Hoyoung’s graduation party.

It only took one look from Hansol to break this all down. Another glance across the room and he could see Youngjo subtly, sadly shaking his head at him as they both retreated to the audit department.

“Are you alright?” that was Seungsik now, taking his seat beside Dongheon.

Dongheon didn’t know what else to say. “Kid I’m raising murdered me in cold blood last night.”

“They grow up so fast,” Seungsik said fondly.

“What did you do with yours?” Dongheon gestured vaguely at the photos Seungsik had stuck to his CPU. There was a lot of dimple there.

 _Hoyoung has a dimple_ , Dongheon thought forlornly.

Seungsik now glanced at the photo, and then back at Dongheon. What a visage he must be, with his hair only partially done up today, and an outfit he clearly remembered wearing just last week.

“We just water him,” Seungsik finally said, tapping the image of a boy with serious eye-smile game and a boxy grin to match. “Leave him out in the sun a bit to photosynthesize.”

Dongheon let the snort come unprettily out his nose, and Seungsik couldn’t help laughing.

“Okay, come on, what could the kid have possibly done?” said Seungsik.

And when Dongheon explained, as succinctly as he could what kind of dilemma Kangmin had put him in, Seungsik summed it up even better: “Oh, dude, literally what the fuck.”

“Right?!” said Dongheon, clicking open that cursed report he’d been working on when he’d gotten Gyehyeon’s cursed text. “So I guess now both Kangmin and I will be single forever.”

“I thought Hoyoung was your boyfriend,” Seungsik deadpanned.

Dongheon whipped around so fast he could’ve hurt his neck. Seungsik was staring at nothing, stricken, as if Dongheon had just broken the Matrix for him.

Dongheon coughed. “Did it, uh, sound like that?”

“Yes,” said Seungsik without hesitation. He tapped rapidly at another picture on his CPU and pointed to one Dongheon had haphazardly propped up against the cubicle wall.

True enough, the photos matched: Seungsik, with Gorgeous Raven-Haired Boyfriend with Right Cheek Dimple’s arm slung around him, and Dongheon, with his arm around Really Cute Purple-Haired Boy with Left Cheek Dimple.

_I knew I should’ve gone with the one where we piledrivered Minchan into the snow._

“Well, no,” Dongheon said. “It’s been one-sided for a good two years now.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“I am,” Dongheon agreed. “I know he likes me back. I just can’t, I dunno, put it out there.”

They both turned to their screens, clacked non-committal at their keyboards, before Seungsik spoke again.

“It’s not like you to drag this out. I’ve seen you come back from lunch with too many weird impulse purchases and strong declarations for this to make sense.”

“If you think of it along the lines of him never actually having any thoughts, it starts to make more sense,” said Youngjo as he passed by, arms heavy with paper.

Dongheon pushed his glasses back up his nose and side-eyed him. “I hope your financial statements don’t balance today.”

“Boo,” said Youngjo, “Also Seungsik’s right, Dongheon. Maybe Kangmin’s onto something, here.”

“Maybe Kangmin’s onto something,” Seungsik agreed.

_> >As soon as I finish this report, I’m going to ask him out. _

_> >Hope your computer crashes_

_> >Slkdfjslk sorry hyung I mean _

_> >I hope your boss cancels the report lol_

_> >Tbh me too, but mostly just so I don’t have to write the report anymore haha_

“Long day?”

The question made Dongheon want to cry. First of all, yes, and second of all, this was the first time in weeks he and Hoyoung had intersected without the threat of immediate, pressing deadlines hanging over their heads.

To illustrate: Hoyoung was cooking tonight (read: reaching into the cupboard to get Minchan whatever spice he asked for while Minchan slaved over the stove).

See, this was fine. Seungsik wondered why Dongheon was dragging it out like a coward? It was because he _was_ afraid of something, and that was losing seeing Hoyoung, and questions like, “Long day?” and “New shirt?” and “Studio?” disappearing into thin air.

“I feel like his stunned silence is a huge yes,” said Minchan from under the range hood. “It’s okay, hyung, let’s eat it out.”

Minchan was their flatmate and a veritable Gordon Ramsay in times like these, even though all he’d done was cook Dongheon ham fried rice and refrigerated some apple juice with applaudable foresight. They stuffed themselves, only pausing to sip primly at the juice like it was wine, and for Dongheon to get their consent to brew some coffee.

They spent the last moments of their dinner trying to sweep nori bits off the bottom of their bowls. The percolator dripped loudly in the background, the only real sound until Hoyoung set his chopsticks down with a flourish, like he’d just remembered something.

Dongheon smiled around his apple juice wine glass. “What’d Kangmin tell you?”

“Nothing,” said Hoyoung, “He forgot to call his dorm mother about staying here again.”

Minchan snorted into his glass. “Love that kid.”

“So? What was last night about?” In contrast to last night, Hoyoung’s eyes were bright today, begging for the story.

Dongheon caught them up on Kangmin’s latest crisis. Minchan tried not to laugh as he listened, failing miserably. Hoyoung looked like he was really going through it.

“Oh, god,” said Hoyoung, “He was really _that_ close to asking Gyehyeon out!”

“Look, for real, the only reason that Gyehyeon could’ve misinterpreted that is because he thinks they’re already together,” said Minchan.

Dongheon shook his head. “You know Gyehyeon’s had this problem with Kangmin not forming full sentences. If either of them got too flustered, maybe it could’ve been like that again.”

Minchan was still laughing, though. “Our Kangminnie’s got so much game.”

“Did he really say that, though, hyung? That he just wants it to be official?”

“Straight from the horse’s mouth,” said Dongheon, standing, making for the coffee mugs they had perpetually stacked on the drying rack.

“That’s so high school of him,” Minchan chuckled. “Wanting it to be official.”

Dongheon felt himself grip the handle of the coffee pot a little too tightly. “You think so?”

“Nothing wrong with wanting it to be official,” Hoyoung chided, and that was when the Kill Bill sirens started to go off in Dongheon’s head in earnest.

_Shit. How do I pour coffee? How does a normal person pour coffee?_

Meanwhile, Minchan was nodding at Hoyoung but also moving his hands in the air, like he was trying to pull words out of it. “Well, sure, but he and Gyehyeon are already giving each other heart eyes all the time, you know? He can’t just roll with that and let things take their natural course?”

 _Yeah, couldn’t he_?

“Kangmin believes Gyehyeon likes him, but I think deep down he also wants that kind of clarity and validation from the other person even though he acknowledges they’re practically already dating.”

 _Amen_ , said one side of Dongheon, while the other yelled, _Whose side are you on?!_

“… So what Kangmin actually needs to ask is, ‘What are we?’ like a real man?” said Minchan.

Hoyoung burst out laughing then, sending Dongheon’s pulse tripping. He had to leave one coffee mug behind to come back for later.

“We didn’t raise him like that, Chanie!”

Minchan spread his arms like, _but he’s gotta!_ and looked to Dongheon for support.

“And look,” Hoyoung continued, “Asking him out precedes a lot of important milestones for Kangmin. What if he wants to say ‘I love you,’ or go in for the kiss or something?”

_Lee Dongheon, absolutely do NOT think about going in for the kiss with Hoyoung. Do NOT._

“Then—okay, gross—Gyehyeon kisses back. It’s not a big deal, man.”

“But then—yes, okay, gross—Gyehyeon will be like, _Where did that come from_? even though they were clearly just aggressively holding hands and stuff, and Kangmin will get flustered and run away—”

Dongheon scratched behind his ear, wondering if he gets younger or grows older by listening to these kinds of conversations.

“Hyung, tell him,” Hoyoung said suddenly, snapping Dongheon out of his self-pity spiral. “Between Kangmin and Gyehyeon especially, like, given the people they are, it’s important for them to have this.”

Minchan tilted his head. “What _did_ you tell Kangmin to do, hyung?”

Dongheon wasn’t opposed to answering only the questions he was asked. “I told him to confess,” he said, leaving out the part where Kangmin had dragged his good name and his ego through the mud.

Hoyoung let out a triumphant “Ha!” while Minchan tipped his chair back, defeated.

Still, Dongheon, 24, professional idiot from Andong, South Korea, felt words forming on his tongue despite his better judgement. “What would you have done, if you were in Kangmin’s situation?”

“Jumped,” Minchan said, without hesitation.

There was a beat of silence after that as Hoyoung sat there with his lips slightly parted, as if he were trying to put a thought out through them. For a tense moment, even Minchan sat very still and observed him.

“I’m okay, personally, with letting things take their natural course. But I’d want the other person to know. I would confess, I think, one way or another,” said Hoyoung.

Minchan made a howling kind of noise and poked finger guns at Hoyoung’s ribs, and the two of them dissolved into their usual nonsense. Dongheon laughed, but it felt suddenly very hollow inside his chest.

 _Then why haven’t you yet, Hoyoung_?

_> > Hi Dongheon,_

_Where are we on the report we’re preparing for Dr. Yoon? Was hoping to send it out early tomorrow so it could sit in the pile for Board approval already._

_Best regards,_

_Hakyeon_

Dongheon had written a variety of nasty emails in the one year he’d been working, but this one felt like the worst of all.

_> > Sunbaenim, please see the attached file. _

Dongheon felt like he was being corny, but he couldn’t get enough of the way the light was flashing off of the curve of Hoyoung’s cheek.

Hoyoung turned away from the TV and raised his eyebrows at him.

Dongheon just flashed a wan smile and shook his head. He’d been a sick kind of calm ever since Hakyeon had smacked him on the back and congratulated him on a report well done, and Dongheon couldn’t help cursing Kangmin for ruining something he normally would’ve gotten off to.

 _You didn’t have to tie it to the report_ , _loser_ , thought Dongheon to himself. _You didn’t have to get on Kangmin’s dumb boat at all._

So why did he? This is what Dongheon thought long and hard about when he’d taken his break that day. He’d made sure he was alone in the pantry before he’d carefully opened a single packet of creamer to siphon into his mouth.

Sad as it was, there was only really one base reason that Dongheon did things: Because he wanted to.

Hoyoung’s voice from last week echoed in his head. _What if he wants to say ‘I love you’ or go in for the kiss?_

“I have a confession,” said Dongheon.

“Hmm? You’re running a little warm, by the way, hyung,” said Hoyoung, touching the back of his hand to Dongheon’s forehead.

“Yeah, I don’t feel so great. But you’ve been in a good mood lately.”

Hoyoung smiled. “I’m turning in my paper this week. There’s a lot to do before the deadline, but just that I can see when everything will be out of my hair…”

Their hands landed on the sofa the way Dongheon had removed them from his forehead, palm in palm, fingers intertwined.

“You’re doing so well. Your grad party will have so much great booze.”

Hoyoung winced. “Family’s flying in for the ceremony.”

“All of them?”

“All of them,” Hoyoung nodded.

Dongheon chuckled, giving Hoyoung’s hand a squeeze. “Minchan’s been canvassing bars. I’ll have him ask if they can do a week after, instead.”

Hoyoung laughed. “You said you had a confession?”

“Oh.” Dongheon let himself feel Hoyoung’s palm, cool and dry, in his own feverish grip. “I ate creamer today.”

“You _what_ —?”

The sound of the door was lost to Hoyoung’s laughter. Dongheon let go of his hand to wave hello at Minchan, who shot him finger guns and missed the bowl he was trying to shoot his car keys into.

As Minchan tried to sort himself out at the door, Dongheon let the last of his energy seep out of him. He sagged against Hoyoung’s shoulder, and felt his heart beat out the last of the fucks he gave as Hoyoung readjusted him so his head would be pillowed comfortably in his lap.

Dongheon, 24, whose favorite Disney movie was _“People do crazy things when they’re in love”_ Hercules, managed to get the words out before sleep overtook him: “Have dinner with me on Friday?”

Hoyoung said okay.

Dongheon was already sick from chickening out on Hoyoung the other night. The last thing he needed was Hakyeon-sunbaenim striding into the rank-and-file workspace calling Dongheon’s name, but that’s what he was doing.

“Sorry you have to do this,” Hakyeon said, and in his defense he did look mighty sorry. “The report was already fine with me, but the Board didn’t like some of the terms Dr. Yoon had specified.”

He had to get to a meeting, but the post-it on the front of the report print out said it all: _Revisions in red, Dongheonie._

Seungsik, normally good-natured and very easy going, managed to look up from his own work to let off, “What kind of demon gives revisions on a Friday?”

“The one that pays me,” Dongheon sighed, and began flipping through the document.

It was lunch time by the time he realized things weren’t looking good. First of all, he was ravenous, and second of all, he would be done in time for dinner.

Dinner with Hoyoung.

Hansol came up to his desk, took one look at him, and about-faced. Youngjo was bolder; he placed his arms on the top of Dongheon’s half wall and sighed.

“You’re not looking so good,” said Youngjo.

“Not feeling good,” said Dongheon.

“Is it because of…?”

Dongheon just shot him a look from over his glasses.

Youngjo sighed. “I’m not usually one to volunteer other people’s services, but when I was once in your position—”

“When were you _ever_ in this position—”

“Seungsik really helped me out.”

“Hmm?” Seungsik had just come back from the pantry with a biscuit between his teeth. “Oh! Yes. We should drink.”

Youngjo shot him cool finger guns and Seungsik shot them back. “So, Dongheon, when are you free?”

“Not freeeeee,” Dongheon sang simply, trying to turn back to his work.

Still, now that Youngjo mentioned it, Dongheon was deathly, desperately needing to loosen his tie for a searing shot of _something_.

“Finish that,” said Hansol, walking by with his lunch. The way his eyes were sparkling meant he was onto Dongheon. Damn. “Finish that and see how you feel about it after.”

Dongheon gave another fake, non-committal smile and pressed save on his work. Telling them all that he was actually having dinner with Hoyoung—even though he’d done that a thousand times before—was suddenly unbearably scary.

The dinner itself was suddenly unbearably scary. The plan should have been simple: That place with the pizza Hoyoung liked so much, then…

Yeah, Dongheon didn’t have a plan.

He hadn’t actually been sure he’d physically make it to Friday; forgive him for not actually thinking how he’d bare his soul to one of his best friends, the one he’d been in love with for a while and happened to be raising Kangmin with. He knew what message he wanted to get across: that he loved Hoyoung and maybe they should kiss or something, but conveying it in a way that wouldn’t immediately compel Hoyoung to swim back to New Zealand? That was the proving a little challenging.

Dongheon leaned back in his chair. “What would Lee Minho do?”

“I can tell you right now that the answer to that is absolutely not the right answer,” said Seungsik, and maybe Dongheon was glad he was listening.

Dongheon knew what the other leading men would say, though: “Hey. I like you.” It was somehow so short but also conveyed the desire to do everything from continuing to raise Kangmin together to sharing spaghetti like in Lady and the Tramp for all Dongheon could imagine, and he supposed that would have to do.

It would do, unless it _didn’t_ , and Hoyoung would decide to do something awful like let Dongheon down easy.

A drink would be nice.

No, he could do without one. Hoyoung wasn’t flighty enough to bail after a confession gone wrong. One way or another, the two of them work it out.

But it would be easier to face that new reality, maybe, if Dongheon did it some other time and instead had a drink tonight.

Suddenly it was 4 pm, and Dongheon was walking the report back to Hakyeon’s office. He felt like he was walking pretty autopilot, but also wouldn’t be surprised if he was taking two steps forward and one step back until he reached his door.

4:10 pm, and now Dongheon was in the elevator to find Taeyong three floors down and mooch some Pepero off him.

4:45 pm and he was admiring the smoke curling off a new cup of coffee.

5:27 pm and he was no thoughts, head empty, and generally feeling like he was going to throw up. Of all the Friday evenings he had nothing to do at work, it had to be today.

All he had now was the clock ticking down to his 7pm off time, and Hoyoung’s _I would’ve confessed, I think_ bouncing off the walls of his empty brain.

_So why didn’t you?_

Cheek to his desk, Dongheon started to build a case up for himself. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t ever confess to Hoyoung. He just wouldn’t do it tonight. He just needed more time to think about this.

“Who’s Yongseung?” said Seungsik.

“What?”

“You just said, ‘How can Yongseung stand having this many thoughts all the time?’”

“I did not know I said that aloud,” Dongheon admitted. “Anyway, count me in for drinks tonight.”

“Nice,” Seungsik grinned. Dongheon felt a little bad, knowing how quickly Seungsik would go back on that and beat his ass if he found out he was ditching Hoyoung for this.

Now the hard part: _Hey, Hoyoungie, some work stuff came up.. Raincheck on dinner?_ _☹_

Dongheon had a very clear vision of the devil hanging up a welcome banner for him in his own, special circle of hell.

Still, Dongheon built on his case: The way things were right now, he couldn’t be left alone with Hoyoung tonight at all, confessions or not. He wouldn’t be able to explain it when the frustration caused him to kick over a trashcan or burst into tears.

His hands were cold and clammy when they picked up the phone again.

_Sure, hyung, next time!_

Dongheon sat back in his chair and breathed out hard. He did _not_ deserve Bae Hoyoung.

5:45pm through 7 saw the queasiness in Dongheon’s gut dissipating, replaced by the soft little heart squeeze of guilt and the next-door-neighbor’s-construction-work sound of his conscience.

Come 7 o’clock, though, a message from Youngjo lit up the group chat: _Our sheets won’t balance pls nobody laugh at us_

“Oof,” said Seungsik.

“Their fault for choosing math,” said Dongheon.

 _Bls go ahead_ , Hansol followed up. _Save us seats_

_What if you don’t finish tonight_

_Then I guess this company doesn’t need their accounts fixed,_ Youngjo texted, the same time Hansol sent, _Then this company can choke_

“Awww,” said Seungsik, “So proud of them.”

 _Work-life balance models <3 _was Seungsik’s message, and then they were off.

Dongheon only realized in the silence of the elevator that this was his first time out alone with Seungsik. As all the other employees filed into the small space, Dongheon second guessed whether he should join in their chatter and say something to him—but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable, he decided. Seungsik was a nice guy; it was just that up until recently he was more of Youngjo’s friend than anyone else’s.

Their idle chatter out on the street wasn’t bad, either. Dongheon had never been bad at keeping that up, but he was also thankful that Seungsik made it easy tonight.

He was even so nice that Dongheon was only a little jealous when the conversation turned to Seungsik’s gorgeous raven-haired boyfriend.

By the time they’d sat down at the little outdoor ramyeon place, Dongheon was already _invested_ , even. Seungsik’s boyfriend—whose name he now knew was Seungwoo—had been away for a little while, and Seungsik had that looking-out-the-window-while-sad-music-played-in-the-background kind of vibe to him when he recounted the tale.

Dongheon, 24, drama enthusiast, was rapt.

They’d agreed to pre-game, too, while waiting for Youngjo and Hansol to finish up. No sooner had the first shot of soju graced Dongheon’s throat that he decided to take the plunge and ask, “How’d you two end up together, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Seungsik’s smile was wide and pleasant.

_If you say you let things take their natural course, I will down this entire bottle, right now._

“We both like to sing,” Seungsik admitted a little shyly. “We do covers together. So one day, when we were still studying, we were recording something together and he just… told me he liked me.”

“Just like that?” God, the sheer effort to keep the irritation and incredulity out of his voice—

Seungsik laughed, full-bodied and boisterous, so much that some of the other patrons shot him a look. Dongheon felt a little deflated; he seemed really easy to pick up on nowadays.

“Yes, just like that,” said Seungsik. “It doesn’t have to be hard, you know?”

“The confessing isn’t hard. It’s after that might be.”

“If those two were here, they’d give us a lecture on risk and reward.”

“We can do this again when they get here, and as soon as Youngjo gets into it, scam him into paying since he’s hit it so big in the stock market.”

And they clinked empty glasses for now.

That was when Dongheon felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

His initial suspects were Youngjo and Hansol, finally liberated from a night of corporate slavery, but when he glanced around the restaurant he couldn’t find them. Instead his eyes focused on a group of newcomers standing near the street, university students by the look of them, backpacks and everything.

Hoyoung was gazing at him curiously from behind one of his friends.

The breath caught it Dongheon’s throat. His grip went weak on his soju glass.

“Hey?”

Dongheon’s gaze faltered as he glanced briefly at Seungsik. When he looked back to the street, Hoyoung was already turned around, ushering his friends back out to the sidewalk so they could find somewhere else to eat.

“No,” Dongheon breathed.

Hoyoung took one last look over his shoulder, offered a weak smile, and tried to put more skip in his step as he directed his friends elsewhere.

Confused, left standing by one of the tent poles, was Minchan. Contrary to popular belief, Minchan wasn’t dumb, and was instead looking around the space to see what could’ve made Hoyoung retreat so quickly.

Dongheon locked his gaze on him, waiting for him to notice. True enough Minchan’s attention finally snapped to him, and Dongheon couldn’t even count the emotions that flashed on his face as he also caught sight of Seungsik and put two and two together.

Just as quickly, his face was a mask of innocence again, but Dongheon knew the shine of bridled distaste in his eyes. Minchan shook his head, subtly, and turned to chase after Hoyoung.

It took a few slow, almost labored breaths for Dongheon to remember Seungsik. Dongheon started, ready to apologize profusely, but instead froze when he found Seungsik staring contemplatively at their one soju bottle.

“So that was Hoyoung,” Seungsik said, apparently putting two and two together just as quickly as Minchan had. “I realize this might look very bad for you.”

“It looks awful,” Dongheon felt like he should admit, “Because I was actually supposed to confess to him tonight before I chickened out and cancelled dinner.”

“Ah,” and that was cold, too cold coming from Seungsik. Dongheon suddenly had the urge to go to take on the sacrament of reconciliation so at least he’d be more peaceful when Seungsik murdered him in the next hour. “So he sees you sharing a drink with a man he doesn’t know…”

“And walks out of the restaurant…” Dongheon supplied weakly, “Again, after I cancelled dinner with him and called it work stuff.”

“Ah.”

Youngjo and Hansol finally appeared at the tent entrance, waving madly.

“And you’re sure Hoyoung likes you back?” Seungsik felt like he should ask, just to drive in the point.

“Almost one hundred percent sure,” said Dongheon, trying to drill it into himself too, because _what had he just done._

_> > Hi hyung! It’s Yeonho!_

_> > Yes yeonho I have your number, whats going on_

_> > Ok so Minchan hyung is really mad at you_

_> > But he can’t text you direct for some reason_

_> > Oh, he can’t text you directly because he doesn’t want Hoyoung hyung to see? Is this about his grad party_

_> > But ok Minchan hyung says to text me and I will relay his answers back to you_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: first of all what the fuck_

_> > I’m sorry_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: second of all what the FUCK_

_> > How much are you paying Yeonho to do this_

_> > Also I’m REALLY sorry please let me explain TT_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: Don’t TT me_

_> >I owe hyung a favor pls don’t ask_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: Also Yeonho owes me a favor don’t ask but seriously hyung what the fuck_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: you said you’d have dinner with him tonight!!!_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: now you have a date???!!!_

_> > First of all he is NOT my date he is just a friend from work_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: looked pretty datey to me_

_> > He has a boyfriend_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: that’s supposed to make it better??????????_

_> > It’s not a date!! I mean that he’s got a boyfriend he’s DEDICATED TO so he wouldn’t be dating me_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: so you are now a h o m e w r e c k e r???_

_> > Hyung what’s going on I’m scared_

_> > I’M NOT A HOMEWRECKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_> > Oh god but he thinks he is, he saw how hoyoung reacted and he feels super bad. Minchan did it look bad?_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: not bad_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: REALLY bad_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: don’t defend ur new side hoe hyung we don’t want anything to do with kang seungsik_

_> > He’s not a side hoe bls minchan I did a bad thing ok_

_> > And how TF did u know his name is seungsik_

_> > He’s seriously just a friend listen what’s hoyoung like right now_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: aaah you know you've done a bad thing_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: I already know his name is seungsik because I just now found hoyoung poring over his fb page smh hyung _

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: with all due respect hyung his boyfriend looks jacked, I hope he beats u up_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: confiscated Hoyoung’s phone for now do NOT try to text him traitor_

_> > Hyung?????? _

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: He’s trying to be a trooper but he’s super sad now hyung_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: He’s knocked back his second shot already ok we both know he’s not like this_

_> > I chickened out TT_

_> > I will let that slide because I deserve it_

_> > I CHICKENED OUT OK I was supposed to confess to him tonight but I chickened out ok and went out for drinks with my officemates instead TT_

_> > Minchan is this bad it’s looking bad isn’t it_

_> > Confess_

_> > CONFESS?!?_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: Confess_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: You were supposed to_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: alksdfjklsajwlkefjaeklfjskldjkljfklasdjf_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: hyung again with all due respect I. hate u_

_> > Youngjo and hansol were finishing something up at the office so seungsik and I went down to save us seats_

_> >I might’ve been acting like a coward_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: this is second lead behavior_

_> > You take that back…_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: WHY CANT U JUST TELL HIM U LOVE HIM_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: Assuming ur not even lying rn I had to go thru that whole kangmin thing tossing hints at you both only to have this done to me mr stark I don’t feel so good mr stark_

_> > Forwarded form Hong Minchan: Yeonho am I getting old fast? Do I have wrinkles_

_> > Oops think that one was meant just for me_

_> > What’s happening with Kangmin_

_> > Hyung are you and hoyoung hyung really having this trouble? _ _☹_

_> > Bc I know for a fact he’d be so happy to have you if you’d just tell him so _ _☹_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: I see Youngjo hyung’s insta post where you look like you’re about to keel over and die ok I think I believe you now_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: but hoyoung’s not getting any of this from /me/, hyung_

_> > Forwarded from Hong Minchan: We’re going to eat. But tomorrow morning at the latest you owe him an explanation_

_> > _ _☹_

_> > Thanks for relaying, Yeonho_

_> > No problem hyung_

_> > Should I be worried?_

_> > Sike I’m already pretty worried haha_

_> > Don’t worry. I’ll fix this_

_From: Minchan_

_11:17 pm_

_Hyung_

_I’ve lost Hoyoung_

Dongheon rounded the corner and scanned the long street that led to their apartment. He’d been a little drunk when he’d received Minchan’s last message, but it turns out that dissipated pretty quickly when it had to.

“What does this mean?” he’d said, showing the message to the table.

Drinking to the weekend had quickly become drinking to Dongheon’s sorrows as soon as Minchan had left. At some point of the night they had even called in boyfriends Hwanwoong and Seungwoo, who were the only ones still sober enough to pore over Dongheon’s messages.

“I think your friend Minchan took Hoyoung’s phone to protect him earlier,” said Seungwoo in that calm, angelic tone that was honestly seconds away from putting Dongheon to sleep. “But now I think Hoyoung is drunk and has wandered off, and his phone is still with Minchan, so he can’t find him.”

And just like that, Dongheon was sober again. “You were strangely calm about that, but really, thank you.”

“Anytime,” said Seungwoo, just as Dongheon took off and Seungsik yelled out a striking, “Go get ‘em, tiger!”

Now Dongheon was searching one end of the street while Minchan searched the other. He had a vague idea of which direction Hoyoung had been going, and was pretty sure it was home.

Dongheon wished it was home. He was lucky if it was home. When he’d cancelled dinner tonight he’d resigned himself to only _maybe_ hurting Hoyoung’s feelings temporarily, not breaking his heart and losing him to the lawless streets of Seoul where he could break much worse.

The next-door-neighbor’s-construction-work sound of his conscience had escalated to jackhammer-level noise, and was doing wonders for Dongheon overall. For the second time in very recent memory, Dongheon’s heart squeezed out a desperate, _Bae Hoyoung, where are you?_

 _Reject me all you want,_ thought Dongheon, _just please, please be okay, Hoyoung._

Then as he jogged by the bus stop, a soft snore made him double back as quickly as he could.

“Oh, thank god,” he said.

And there was Hoyoung. He looked a little rumpled but otherwise unharmed, almost serene, even, fast asleep against the bus route sign. When he stirred at Dongheon’s voice it was only to wipe the thin line of drool that ran from his cheek to edifice. Then he readjusted himself, snuggling closer to sign and clinging to it like a lifeline.

 _Thank god,_ Dongheon repeated. He took a second to dial Minchan. “I found him. We’re here by the bus.”

“Oh, thank god,” Minchan echoed, and he sounded like he meant it. Still…

“What’s wrong?” said Dongheon.

“Hah, you can tell? Sorry, hyung, I think I hurt my ankle back there…”

“Where are you?”

“The convenience store…”

“Sit tight, okay? We’ll go get you.”

“You don’t have to—"

“So do I get on your back?”

Dongheon started. Hoyoung had spoken, slow and slurred, but his eyes were still closed and his mouth set in a pleasant smile. It definitely wasn’t the reception Dongheon had been expecting, but damn, he’d take it.

“If… you can?” Dongheon haphazarded, and felt a wave of relief when Hoyoung stretched out his hands and feet as if he were asking for a hug.

It was a few minutes later that they found Minchan, icing down an ankle at one of the plastic tables outside the store. Despite everything he stood to help Dongheon lower Hoyoung into a chair, and put the other boy’s schoolbag under his head like a pillow.

“I’m so sorry I lost him, hyung,” said Minchan.

“Don’t be,” said Dongheon. “Wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t decide to be a dick today.”

Minchan looked pleasantly surprised at Dongheon’s admission. He reached over and gave Hoyoung’s head a soft pat. “Dunno if that really excuses me losing a whole person, though.”

“We found him, and that’s what matters. ” Getting each word out felt like doing a lift for Dongheon now. Hoyoung wasn’t light. “Wait here. I’ll get us coffee.”

Minchan accepted the drink from him gratefully, and it looked a little like he still needed it for getting sober. Dongheon thought he must look similar, though: fringe plastered to his forehead, gulping down cool black gold like his life depended on it.

“I’m gonna be straight with you,” said Dongheon. “Or like, gay and honest.”

“The best kind of gay. Please do. But the way this conversation has started, I think it has something to do with Kangmin.”

Dongheon heaved a sigh so heavy that Hoyoung stirred in his sleep a little.

“Did he triple dog dare you?” Minchan ventured carefully.

“I don’t think the youngins know what a triple dog dare is anymore.” Dongheon contemplated his coffee can. “I wish he’d triple dog dared me. I’d have confessed so fast.”

Minchan snorted. “He wouldn’t confess to Gyehyeon because you haven’t yet confessed to Hoyoung, huh?”

Dongheon nodded. “And honestly, for any other thing I would’ve told him to eat shit, but it did kind of get me wondering why I hadn’t confessed to Hoyoung yet, and—yeah.”

“And?”

“And—” Dongheon was having serious second thoughts about this honesty thing. The look in Minchan’s eyes was so intense and searching that he had half a mind to get up and walk right into the street.

“ _And?”_

“And why he hadn’t yet confessed to me, either,” Dongheon hissed.

Minchan sat back, nodding sagely. “So you _do_ know. Since when?”

“I don’t know since when. And I always have my doubts. But you kind of confirmed it earlier tonight, I guess?”

Minchan raised his eyebrows.

Dongheon felt like he was going to explode with uncertainty, suddenly. “I mean? Searching up Seungsik specifically?”

“Aaah,” Minchan relented with a long sip of coffee. “He’s not normally that creepy, hyung, I promise. Although, yeah, you should’ve seen him—‘Oh god, Chanie, how am I supposed to compete with this, look he sings so well!’”

Dongheon couldn’t help laughing. He reached over and smoothed down Hoyoung’s hair. “He’d never have to compete. Not with anybody,” he sighed.

He turned back to Minchan, though, and the softness in his eyes was easily the wildest experience of Dongheon’s night.

“Minchan, do you--?”

“No,” Minchan said quickly. “At least, I don’t think so. He has been in love with you for as long as I can remember, hyung. I don’t let myself go down that direction with him.”

Dongheon sat back in his chair. A quick, shallow breath left him, kind of like he’d been punched.

“Though I’ve—” Minchan took a delicate sip of coffee. “I used to wonder why _you_. I’ve tried to shake some sense into him, maybe sometimes for selfish reasons. When he really had me feeling like _I_ was the crazy one for not getting it, I tried to look closer, and really… the way the two of you look at each other.”

Dongheon stared. And stared.

Minchan wasn’t done. “The way you two look at each other. The way you bounce off each other. The way you kind of _get_ each other. You’re right. I can’t imagine anyone competing with Hoyoungie on that.”

Dongheon felt a lump in his throat that he did not know what to do with.

“Though, also to be gay and honest, I suggest the two of you have sex _soonest_ , because at the same time you are both literally some of the most repressed and deprived—”

“Okay, Minchan, thank you,” said Dongheon, glad the lump in his throat had very easily dispelled itself at that.

“Thanks for coming to my Minchan talk,” Minchan said against his coffee can, and it took all of Dongheon’s remaining energy to not get into how he should just let it be a TED talk.

Dongheon took a sip of his own. A courage sip. “I don’t know what to say, though, Chan.”

Minchan waved that away surprisingly easily. “Don’t worry about me. The wonderful world of bisexuality means that there are twice as many people who may receive my love,” Minchan said, waggling his eyebrows at the clearly drunk girls seated at the next table, who Dongheon had realized had been listening rapt all this time.

 _This really had to happen on a Friday night_ , Dongheon thought, though at the same time, _Same._

Hoyoung chose that moment to lift his head from the table. His eyes remained closed, though.

“Chanie, whatever you do, you mustn’t run into Deongheon-hyung,” he said, in English.

Minchan and Dongheon shared a look. “And why?” Minchan asked Hoyoung, also in prim English.

“Because you’re drunk, and Dongheon-hyung is going to know,” Hoyoung said, and not without effort. “He and Kang Seungsik can choke. He can’t know I like him still.”

Dongheon bit down on the meat of his thumb to stop laughing. _Cute_!

Minchan seemed to think so too. At least, he did until Hoyoung said in very clear Korean, “You tell Dongheon-hyung anything and I’ll eat you for breakfast.”

Now Minchan sat back in his chair. Hoyoung, oblivious, was snoring again.

“Do you think Yeonho will still let me in after I made him play owl for us earlier? Do you think Yongseung will? I can’t go back to the apartment, hyung.”

Dongheon shook his head. “We go back. I’ll stop him from killing you tomorrow morning.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “Or we just both die, together.”

“Loving this solidarity,” said Minchan, feigning tears. “One problem though: I still can’t walk.”

And so Minchan and Dongheon sweet-talked the drunken group of girls to keep an eye on their dozing Hoyoung. They agreed whole-heartedly, especially in exchange for Minchan’s phone number, which nobody really asked for, but Minchan offered anyway. Dongheon slung Minchan’s arm over his shoulder and together, they limped back to the apartment.

As soon as he’d thrown Minchan into the premises, Dongheon went back for Hoyoung. The girls cooed at him accepting another piggy-back ride from Dongheon, and while Dongheon smiled for his part of the hero, he was seriously debating just rolling Hoyoung back to their place.

It didn’t help that Hoyoung’s soft snoring in his ear was making him both weak and kind of sleepy.

It was only after what felt like ages that they arrived at the apartment. Minchan, thankfully, once again exhibited applaudable foresight even drunk and stayed up to let them in. Dongheon trudged past him with a grunt of thanks and shouldered his way into Hoyoung’s room.

Damn, he was tired.

He loved Hoyoung, but wasn’t above dropping him onto his bed. Hoyoung bounced and woke, shocked and confused, trying to make sense of the world tumbling around him.

Dongheon just stood by the bed, hands on his hips, catching his breath. He wasn’t ready to move even when Hoyoung caught sight of him and narrowed his eyes.

He put two and two together fairly quickly, like a lot of people seemed to be doing that night (yesterday night?). Hoyoung haphazardly got up on one elbow and moved to get off the bed.

“First I’m going to kill Minchan, and then I’m going to deal with you,” he said, very calmly.

Dongheon caught him by the shoulder and gently pushed him back onto the bed. Hoyoung clutched at his nose bridge, like the whole thing made him dizzy, but also managed to look annoyed with Dongheon.

“Spare him,” Dongheon said. “We’re only home tonight because of him, to be honest.”

That seemed to make Hoyoung’s head hurt more.

“Take a shower. Go to bed. Kill me in the morning, and then let me apologize.”

Hoyoung’s eyelids were already drooping. “Not gonna make it to the shower.”

“Then just sleep.” Dongheon could feel his knees going weak. Hoyoung’s floor looked really good just then, and he decided to go spread-eagled against the cool tile. “Me, too, maybe.”

Hoyoung was mad at him. He should be somewhere else. But maybe Dongheon was still running on some alcoholic fumes or maybe he was just tired or maybe he just wanted to _be there_ for Hoyoung, for once, he didn’t really know.

Hoyoung, too, was snoring again before he could scold Dongheon.

Dongheon awoke to someone trying to remove his jacket. “ _Hmm??”_

“You’ll be too warm,” Hoyoung said softly.

His hands were cool and shower fresh, deft at rolling Dongheon over because he’d definitely done this before.

Dongheon heard the cursed jacket being thrown into a hamper somewhere. “Thanks,” he murmured. He felt like something had crawled into his brain and died, and was all too happy to push the sensation away with more sleep.

Dongheon awoke yet again, this time to one of Hoyoung’s soft taps. “Hyung? You’re going to throw your back out on the floor.”

Hoyoung finally stirred past noon, which was impressive, considering that they hadn’t even slept that late last night. Dongheon had left him briefly before that for a quick shower and a snack, and after a very tumultuous mental struggle, rejoined him on the bed.

Dongheon had woken up with his legs tangled with Hoyoung’s. He’d be damned if he had to wake up any other way ever again because of his own cowardice and a misunderstanding.

And it was a slow process, Hoyoung coming online, but once it finally got about 60% of the way there he must have realized someone else was in his bed. He rolled quietly in on himself and faced adamantly against the wall, back to Dongheon.

“I’ll leave if you want me to,” Dongheon said quietly. “But I definitely don’t want to.”

Hoyoung seemed to startle a little, and threw a glance over his shoulder.

“What did Minchan tell you?” he managed.

Dongheon put his phone down and used his hands to try to shape words in the air. “Not… much… that I didn’t… already know.”

Hoyoung turned away again and curled tightly into a ball. “Is that why you didn’t tell me about Seungsik?”

“No,” said Dongheon, “I didn’t tell you about Seungsik because I hadn’t planned to go to dinner with him and the guys. I’d thought I’d be going out to confess to you, right up until I chickened out and cancelled.”

Hoyoung was so, so still.

“I feel like I’m cheating at this, by the way,” said Dongheon. “Only really confessing now that… I dunno, after everything. I should’ve tried saying it as soon as I realized I felt it, maybe.”

“And when was that?”

Dongheon sighed. “The day we met Kangminnie.”

“When we scammed a dance instructor? A case they subsequently used against us to politely ask us not to come back to that studio?”

“I don’t even think about that next part,” Dongheon winced. “I didn’t even want a dongsaeng when I met Kangmin, Hoyoung. But for once I did the right thing and didn’t kick him out, and it was because I thought it would upset you if I did.”

Hoyoung shifted, trying to bury his head under his own pillow.

Dongheon didn’t take that as a great sign, but he kept going. “I couldn’t stop thinking about the way you smiled after we both got Kangminnie to stay. Like, I kind of wanted to keep doing that. I mean, getting you to smile, not committing crimes. Unless you want to commit crimes together because I can probably do that too. I’ll be easy to talk to, I promise.”

Dongheon drummed his fingers against his own stomach. “I’ll be easy to talk to, if you’ll have me. So there. I lay—I li—I like you. A lot.”

 _Nailed it_.

From under his pillow, Hoyoung said, “Why’d it take you so long, hyung?”

“I thought I didn’t have to,” Dongheon said, pushing the hair off his forehead. “I don’t know why, but I thought we could just keep going like that. I think I was scared to have it go any other way, honestly.”

Honesty. There it was again. Honest and gay, like how they’d raised Kangmin.

Dongheon let out a wan laugh, though inside he was screaming. “Please don’t be so quiet about this, Hoyoung.”

Hoyoung sniffed, very loudly. “Yeah, just give me a second, maybe.”

“What—Are you--?”

“Yes, I’m crying, I’m man enough to admit that but please, please just give me a minute.”

“Okay,” said Dongheon, but that came out his nose as he felt himself also beginning to tear up. “Okay.”

“What—why are _you_ crying?”

“I’m _not;_ this is just a lot for me too! I mean, you said the other day that you would’ve confessed, if it were you? I used up _so many_ braincells on that alone?”

“I thought that if you were going to confess, you would’ve done it already,” said Hoyoung. An arm disappeared under his pillow, presumably to wipe at his nose. “And I didn’t want to confess because I felt like you really _could_ have a Kang Seungsik if you tried.”

“Please stop talking about Seungsik,” said Dongheon, “I just sit next to him at work. He and his boyfriend are raising a Subin or something and occasionally some of their other friends come to the office looking sad.”

“Oh my god, that sounds so us,” Hoyoung whined.

“Right?”

“So—” Hoyoung finally removed his head from under the pillow. His hair was a faded purple halo around him, his eyes a little puffy and red, and _god_ if Dongheon wasn’t whipped for that. “You’re not just saying this get out of ditching me last night?”

Dongheon, a turbulent fool, considered this for a second. “I think this would be a way-too-elaborate way to cover up ditching you.”

“You might be right,” Hoyoung said, biting the inside of his thumb.

“I’m—I’m going to say it again,” said Dongheon. He didn’t know how the words still coming out of his mouth when he was inches away from spontaneously combusting. “Bae Hoyoung, I really like you, and like you said about Kangmin I think telling you this is a really important precedent if I want to become your boyfriend and tell you I love you and go in for the kiss with you.”

Hoyoung was frozen, looking Dongheon right in the eyes. “What was that second thing?”

“That I—love… you.”

Then suddenly Hoyoung was doing the third thing, and sure as the sun rising Dongheon was cupping his cheek and kissing him back, and the world felt like it suddenly made way more sense than it did before.

Dongheon lost track of the minutes, the hours, the seconds, or however long it was he spent kissing Hoyoung. Everything was just the feel of Hoyoung warm on top of him, smiling against his mouth the way he should’ve been doing a long time ago.

 _Knock knock!_ “Hyung, are you awake? Minchan-hyung has lunch out!”

Hoyoung pulled away, flushed and panicked but smiling.

“Uh, just a minute!” Dongheon replied.

There was a brief pause, and then suddenly Kangmin had all but kicked down the door. In retrospect, it might have been a little jarring to hear _Dongheon_ replying from _Hoyoung’s_ room. Kangmin stood at the doorway, eyes wide and mouth open, taking in the way Hoyoung was holding himself over Dongheon and the way Dongheon held him in his arms.

Kangmin closed his eyes and sagged against the door. “So now I have to—Have to tell—I have to tell Gyehyeon-hyung— _Shit_!”

“This looks better tucked in, right?”

“Leave it out.”

“But it’s a polo—”

“Out.”

Dongheon breathed out slowly, facing himself in the mirror. _Okay. Out. Just let your parents think I’m both unfashionable and unemployed._

Hoyoung, on the other hand, was a visage. That was what graduation did to someone, at least until the job hunt and existential crisis kicked in, but Dongheon was pretty sure he’d be there for that too.

Hoyoung turned to him and pushed a lock of hair back into place. Dongheon took his turn to straighten Hoyoung’s collar, and that was that; they were ready to go.

As he reached for Minchan’s keys, Dongheon grew aware of two sets of eyes watching them from over the back of the couch.

“You’ve met his family before, but I guess this is different now,” said Kangmin.

“I didn’t know it was possible for you two to be even more married,” Gyehyeon added.

“Eat well!” Kangmin waved. Gyehyeon lowered the volume on the Netflix to make sure the two would hear whatever they had to say. “Make a good impression.”

“Take lots of pictures,” said Gyehyeon, which Dongheon thought was actually a fantastic idea.

Hoyoung slipped his hand into his too fast, and squeezed too tight. Dongheon jumped. Hoyoung couldn’t be nervous, not when Dongheon himself felt like he was going to liquefy as soon as he walked out the door—

“Should we be leaving these two alone together?” Hoyoung whispered.

Dongheon opened his mouth to say something, but stopped short seeing the two already engrossed with the TV again, almost definitely holding hands while they watched.

“I’m kind of glad we’re running a little late, suddenly,” said Dongheon. “Then we can pretend we have no choice, right?”

Hoyoung nodded safely. “Fine with me. They’ll be okay. Mum won’t.”

“She loved me up until recently. I don’t know why she’s so wary of me now.” Dongheon sniffed.

Hoyoung just rolled his eyes. “It’s because you have all my love and attention. Also maybe because you forgot she was on Instagram before you posted all those stories of me with the tongue emoji.”

“I regret posting them, but I meant them. I mean them now. Every story.”

Hoyoung sighed, long and heavy, still squeezing Dongheon’s hand. Still, he was smiling. “Then post another one, right now. I think we look pretty damn fine.”

And so the mirror selfie went up post-haste: Hoyoung laughing while Dongheon held him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He chose to forgo the caption this time, half of out fear of Hoyoung’s mother and half because it was probably pretty clear to everyone involved that they did, in fact, like each other a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm @seijohofficial on twitter if you need to scream at me for this


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